Chapter Nineteen - Rhea
The ocean breeze pulled at the loose locks of my hair as I gazed out across the water. This window, this view, had been the place where I could find solace on my long nights here in my room in the tallest tower of the citadel. But even the sweet sound of the waves crashing far, far below gave me no solace tonight.
Convincing the High Priest that Dante had controlled my every action in the past few months had been a surprisingly simple task. What had been harder had been allowing him to see each memory, letting him witness every private moment we’d shared. He’d paid particular attention to our moments in the pleasure house.
I shuddered, pulling my shawl closer around me.
What was even worse was when he had plucked the memory of the library from my mind. He had seen the book I’d read. He had seen Dante’s true face through my eyes.
He knew that Dante was the weapon that could bring the destruction of worlds. Even now, he and his advisors were planning to use this new information to bring down Arelia and end the war forever.
The process of memory pulling in the High Priest’s chambers had been painful and shameful, but at least now I had the quiet comfort of my room. They would allow me to recover from my time as a slave in the fae kingdom, at least until I could be made again into a war tool.
Outside my window, there came a sound that I mistook at first as the thunder of waves below. Then, with a jolt, I realized it was not the ocean, but the beat of heavy wings against the night air.
I stood, holding onto the window’s edge as Dante rose into view. Tears stung my eyes as he softly landed on the ledge, pulling his black wings in behind him and holding the ledge of the window over my head as our bodies nearly touched.
I reached up to the shadows on his face, feeling through them to the scarred flesh beneath. “You’re here,” I whispered, hardly believing it even as I saw and touched him. Then the realization hit me of exactly how dangerous it was that he had come. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“Why did you help me get away?” he asked, bringing a hand up to catch the strands of my hair that blew in the wind, tucking them behind my ear with great care. “You could have gotten your revenge on me.”
“Revenge?”
“You could have let them capture me, like I captured you.”
“And worn you as a pretty accessory to the next ball?” I rolled my eyes. “I admit, all the ladies would be jealous.”
Dante’s eyes remained serious as his hand drifted to my collarbone. I let out a short sigh, so grateful to again feel the touch of his hand on me but knowing it would not be for long. “No one should be held against their will, Dante. Not me, not you, and not either of our people.”
He looked behind me to the room I’d lived in for all my adult years. “You have your freedom now. You’re back where you belong.”
I looked back over my shoulder to the room behind me. It was lit by candles. Books piled beside the bed and on the table that sat in front of the burning hearth. It was comfortable, familiar, but was this where I belonged?
“I don’t know if I’ll ever belong anywhere,” I breathed. “Especially not with this.” I pulled up my nightgown to reveal the black band that encircled my upper thigh.
His violet eyes softened as his fingers brushed against the mark almost lovingly. “This mark tells you exactly where you belong.”
“You mean to whom I belong?”
He looked up at me, his eyes sad and intense.
“No, not to whom. You belong at my side, and you will find your way there again.”
My heart ached at the words, and I wrapped my arms around him. It was suddenly all I wanted. Every part of me longed for his words to be true.
“Swear it,” I said, pressing my face into his chest and breathing in the sweet scent of him.
A finger traced the line of my jaw, then firmly pulled my chin up until our faces were no more than a breath apart. Dante leaned forward and pressed his lips against mine, twining his hand in my hair as if he could hold me here for all eternity. But our kiss was broken all too soon as he pulled away.
“The fates demand it. And if they didn’t, I would still make it so. You’re mine, Rhea. And I am yours.”
I pressed against his body and kissed him, my arms wrapping possessively around him.
Then, a knock sounded at my door behind us. Dante brushed his fingers over my face as if memorizing the details of it. He kissed me on my forehead, then fell away from the window.
I watched as he soared out over the ocean, the string tied about my heart pulling me maddeningly after him.
The knock came again, and I reluctantly pulled myself from the window ledge and the sight of his fading figure against the night sky.
I opened the door to find Sam standing stiffly in the hall. He straightened up at the sight of me, a range of emotions running over the simple, handsome features of his face. I’d been doing my best to avoid him since returning to this place. Lying to the High Priest was one thing, but I dreaded the moment when I would need to lie to my best friend.
“Can I come in?” he asked, wringing his hands nervously in front of him.
“I was just sleeping, Sam,” I said, trying to add all the exhaustion I’d felt these past few days into my voice. He nodded, but before I could bid him goodnight and close the door, he looked up at me with ardent hazel eyes.
“They will pay for what they did to you,” he said in a low voice that made my toes curl. “If it’s the last thing I do, Rhea, I will see them pay for this.”
A painful stone rose in my throat as I nodded, doing my best to hold the pretense that my captors had been evil, that everything that had been done to me was a terrible act against my will.
I gave him the best smile I could muster before squeaking out the words, “Goodnight, Sam.” He allowed me to close the door, thank Mara.
As I slipped back into my room and under the covers of my bed, the only thing that could comfort me was the plan I’d hatched in the seconds I’d had before sending Dante away on the road. His sister was here, beneath the catacombs, and I would be the one to save her.
I would save her, and together, we would return to Arelia, to Dante.
I swear it .